Archives Hub Blog

31 October 2008

Archives 2.0

I've just been reading the excellent entry (with many interesting comments) on the ArchivesNext blog on the subject of 'Archives 2.0'. I agree with Kate's position, that 'Archives 2.0' should be about our mindset - the principles of participation, openness, experimenting with new technologies, collaboration and exploration. Whilst we can argue over various tools that may or may not be 'Web 2.0' and how we might or might not integrate these into our work patterns, surely taking a more open and participatory approach should be something we can all agree on?
At the Archives Hub our raison d'etre is dissemination - we want to improve access to archives through providing an effective cross-searching service. I see 'Archives 2.0' as very much in line with what we are doing - implementing standards, looking at interoperability and taking a collaborative approach. As a community, we are entirely at liberty to shape 'Archives 2.0' ourselves, to make it something relevant to us - the label is, after all, just a label until it has an agreed meaning behind it. It should not be seen as something forced upon us, but as something that we create and progress for our own benefit and the benefit of our users.
I've kept an eye open for good examples of more interactive and participatory websites relating to archives, but they seem to be a bit thin on the ground in the UK. I think that the archives community might be a bit behind the Library community in this respect, although maybe that is hardly surprising given the resources that most of us are working with and the fact that many archivists are lone practitioners. It's not easy to embrace new technologies and new ways of working when you're struggling to accomplish the basic tasks - acquisition, cataloguing (backlogs!), preservation, etc.
I think that some of the work that we at the Hub are doing with The Women's Library (Genesis portal) and AIM25 in terms of interoperability and data sharing is very much 'Archives 2.0' but the benefits of this won't be obvious to the outside world because its not about whizzy new user interfaces, but about sharing descriptions, rather than asking archivists to create several descriptions for different services. So this brings benefits of efficiency and more content and reduces problems of version control. We'll post more about this work as we progress it!
I think that if we can work together as a community, then the benefits of a more open and collaborative approach can be widely shared. Certainly at the Hub we are keen to share our experience and any expertise that we might have for the benefit of the wider community, and we are also keen to find out about any other projects that we might learn from - no point in trying to work out everything for yourself if you can benefit from the experience of others.

The Big Draw 2008: The Big Wheel

This October the Archives Hub took part in The Big Draw. Thank you for sending your drawings on the themes of Fairgrounds and Playgrounds or Cycling and Recycling.
Above: Research drawing of ferris wheel for the film Artificial Intelligence: AI, originally developed by Stanley Kubrick and realised by Steven Spielberg after Kubrick's death in 1999. From the Stanley Kubrick Archive. Image provided by University of the Arts London with rights reserved by the Stanley Kubrick Estate and reproduced with their permission. Submitted by Karyn Stuckey, Archivist.

20 October 2008

Esther Rantzen eat your heart out…

On 3rd October 2008, I attended the “Finding Archives Day” at The National Archives. I was very excited, I’d never been to The National Archives before and in fact had only really seen it on “Who do you think are?”, so I couldn’t wait to get there in person.
As a trained librarian who has been working for the Archives Hub for only a year, I find this whole new world of archives faintly mysterious and fascinating. A little like one of the dark arts. As I walked into the building I realised that I had probably built it up in my mind a little too much. It’s a very large building and has a ‘lake/pond/water feature’ and some nice ducks, but it wasn’t quite as magical as I had anticipated. In fact it seemed pretty similar to the British Library. Functional and doing pretty much what it says on the tin, so I suppose I started my day off a little disappointed.
The day for me was to be a mixture of ‘being on’ and learning. I was going to attend the sessions and in between I would be able to demonstrate the Hub to delegates. The day was opened by CEO Natalie Ceeney who explained that they’d had the idea to showcase all the good work that goes on at the National Archive and that this was hopefully to be the first of many such days. She also said that there were 600 National Archives staff, I was quite stunned. There are only 5 of us on the Archives Hub team…but as she went on to describe what some of this good work was and what the day was going to be about, I realised that TNA does…a…LOT.
We kicked off with Alex Ritchie giving us an introduction to the National Register of Archives and the annual accessions exercise. The NRA was established in 1945 and is the UK’s oldest archival network. I was fascinated to learn that overseas archives contribute to the NRA and then I thought about it and was a little shocked by how this is actually quite an obvious source of archives considering the amount of emigration from the UK there has been historically. Since 1945, the NRA has made great progress especially since the advent of the Internet, and now has 310,000 index entries and 96,000 links to online finding aids and will obviously continue to grow.
Anthony Smith then gave us a demonstration of how to use the NRA to find family and estates papers. Anthony commented that working with family and estates information isn’t simply about the history of the elite but is also a source of social history documenting the economic and political development of those who lived and worked within the estates system.
We then had a coffee break and I got to chat to people about how great the Hub is and what a wonderful resource it is for archivists and researchers. After coffee we had an introduction to the Manorial Documents Register (MDR), from Liz Hart, and a description of the complexities of getting the Buckinghamshire and Berkshire MDR online from the project officer, Sarah Charlton. We then had lunch, which was also another chance for me to chat to delegates and show off the Hub. There was then the launch of “Bucks and Berks MDR Online”. This was celebrated with some specially created cupcakes, that I couldn’t help thinking might be a nice idea for a possible future launch of the Archives Hub re-brand – I had visions of chocolate cakes with Hub logos on.
After lunch James Travers regaled us with tales of ‘Joe Public’ attempting to sell UK archive material on e-bay without realising that you need an export licence for material over 50 years old. I also was unaware that TNA monitored sales from the major auction houses and from specialist manuscript auctioneers. They provide archives with comparable price information and notify them of potential acquisitions and also make sure no-one is trying to illegally sell manorial documents.
Ruth Crumey then went on to tell us about the wonderful new service ‘Your Archives’ which is currently in its beta version. Your archives uses the same software as Wikipedia and allows users to submit articles and comments that they have written about historical records held by TNA. These articles have links back to the relevant NRA records. As a huge advocate of enabling user generated content, I think this will add value to The National Archives site and the extra knowledge that users will add to the collections already exposed by The National Archives can only enhance the research experience.
Amy Warner ended the day talking about current projects and future plans of TNA. Amongst other things Amy talked about being involved with the development of Archival Name Authority Files. Ro Cemm then explained about the NRA digitisation project where TNA have specifically targeted archives that did not have the resources themselves to digitise their finding aids. Amy also discussed how TNA want to pursue ways of making it easier to add new content the site and are hoping to take advantage of opportunities offered by new technologies with Google and People Australia. They will also be working on the development of a new Government Policy on Archives.
So I could have sworn I knew what TNA did, but it turns out I had barely scratched the surface. A pretty magical place after all…

17 October 2008

The Big Wheel: Third Spin

This October the Archives Hub is taking part in The Big Draw. We want you to make drawings on the themes of Fairgrounds and Playgrounds, or Cycling, or Recycling. Scan or photograph your drawing, and then email the digital version to us. We'll post your pics here each Friday. And we'll give an Archives Hub notepad and propelling pencil to everyone who sends us a drawing, and the first name out of the cycle helmet will receive colouring pens, a pencil case and a notepad - all made from recycled car tyres! If you send us your postal address, we won't use it for anything else.1. An Oxford bicycle
Here's a drawing of an Oxford bicycle. Submitted by Elizabeth Martin of Nuffield College Library.

03 October 2008

The Big Wheel: First Spin

This October the Archives Hub is taking part in The Big Draw. We want you to make drawings on the themes of Fairgrounds or Playgrounds, or Cycling or Recycling. Scan or photograph your drawing, and then email the digital version to us. We'll post your pics here each Friday. And we'll give an Archives Hub notepad and propelling pencil to everyone who sends us a drawing, and the first name out of the cycle helmet will receive colouring pens, a pencil case and a notepad - all made from recycled car tyres! If you send us your postal address, we won't use it for anything else.1. Swing Ride SilhouetteAbove: Drawing by Amanda Hill, formerly of the Archives Hub, and now relocated to Canada. This pic links to a larger version. Submitted by Amanda:"Mike says it looks like a pizza, but then he's a complete philistine."
2. RecycleAbove: Quick drawing by Paddy of the Archives Hub. Submitted by Paddy: "I was going to try the Manchester Wheel but it looks a bit difficult... "